The Ordering of Adjectives

ADJECTIVES

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When two or more adjectives
come before a noun, their relative order is fixed to a certain degree.
This means, for instance, that while complex mathematical studies
is grammatically acceptable, mathematical complex studies is less
so. Similarly:

a huge red bomber

~*a red huge bomber

a long narrow road

~*a narrow long road

the lovely little black Japanese
box

~*the Japanese black little lovely
box

Here we will discuss some of the most common
sequences which occur, though these should not be seen as ordering rules.
Counter examples can often be found quite easily.

Central adjectives, as we saw earlier,
are adjectives which fulfil all the criteria for the adjective class. In
this sense, they are more "adjectival" than, say, denominal adjectives,
which also have some of the properties of nouns.

This distinction has some significance
in the ordering of adjectives. In general, the more adjectival a word is,
the farther from the noun it will be. Conversely, the less adjectival it
is (the more nominal), the nearer to the noun it will be. The relative
order of these adjective types, then, is:

Sequence (1): CENTRAL -- DENOMINAL -- NOUN

This is the ordering found in complex
mathematical studies, for instance, and also in the following examples:

expensive Russian dolls heavy woollen clothes huge polar bears

Colour adjectives are also central adjectives,
but if they co-occur with another central adjective, they come after it:

(1) - (4) account for many sequences
of up to three adjectives, in which each adjective is a different type.
In practice it is rare to find more than three attributive adjectives together,
especially if they are all different types. However, such a sequence may
occur:

certain expensive green
Russian dolls

Here the sequence is:

Sequence (5): NON-GRADABLE -- CENTRAL --
COLOUR -- DENOMINAL -- NOUN

Non-gradable adjectives, in fact, are always
first in an adjective sequence. Here are some more examples:

Sequence (5a): NON-GRADABLE -- CENTRAL
-- NOUN

certain difficult
problems

Sequence (5b): NON-GRADABLE -- PARTICIPIAL
-- NOUN

sheer unadulterated
nonsense

Sequence (5c): NON-GRADABLE -- DENOMINAL --
NOUN

major medical advances

So far we have looked at sequences in which
each adjective is a different type. However, we very often find adjectives
of the same type occurring together:

big old buildings beautiful little
flowers rich young people

Here all the adjectives are central adjectives,
and in sequences like these it is much more difficult to determine the
general principles governing their order. Several schemes have been proposed,
though none is completely satisfactory or comprehensive.

The ordering of adjectives is influenced to some
degree by the presence of premodification. If one or more of the adjectives
in a sequence is premodified, say, by very, then it generally comes
at the start of the sequence.

The laryngograph provides
us with a very accurate non-invasive physical measure of voice [S2A-056-95]

It would be unusual, perhaps, to find very
accurate elsewhere in this sequence:

?The laryngograph provides
us with a non-invasive very accurate physical measure of voice

?The laryngograph provides
us with a non-invasive physical very accurate measure of voice

Conversely, adjective order restricts the
degree to which attributive adjectives may be premodified. Consider the
following:

a wealthy young businessman a very wealthy young
businessman

We cannot modify young in this example,
while keeping wealthy and young in the same relative order:

*a wealthy very young
businessman

Nor can we move young to the first position
and modify it there, while retaining the same degree of acceptability: